Page 42 of Pack Down Bad

Everything happens all at once.

Percy storms out from the hallway behind us with a, “What the fuck is going on?” at the same time Knox shouts, “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

Rhys halts abruptly and turns to scoop me up in his arms, keeping me from getting any closer to the door. I peer around his arm to watch in confusion as a figure with dark hair elbows her way past Knox and into the house.

She marches a few steps past Rhys and me before doing a double-take and then backtracking. She cranes her neck to see me, worried brown eyes darting all over my face to check me over.

“Mia?”

The events leading up to my car accident come rushing back to me at the sight of my best friend.Oh, crap.Things might be a little more complicated than I first remembered. Safe to say Iamsingle at this point, though, between Mia scent-matching with Jason and me running away from them both with reckless abandon.

Guess I ghosted them for a couple of days, then...

Double crap.

“Oh, thank god, Belle. When I finally found your car abandoned down the road this morning, I decided to start knocking on doors looking for you.” Mia leans over with her palms on her knees and heaves some deep breaths. “You left so abruptly without your phone or purse, and no one has heard from you. I thought you were dead!”

“Nearly,” I retort offhandedly, glancing at Rhys and thinking about the epic orgasm he just gave me.

Rhys must know where my brain went because he meets my gaze and shudders slightly. His lips twitch at the corners with good humor.

“Who the hell are you?” Knox growls, planting himself in front of me to cut off Mia’s view.

I stare appreciatively at his back. Mia’s arrival must have interrupted him working because he’s shirtless, the muscles between his shoulder blades taunting me. My impending heat is making it hard for me to focus on anything else. I notice a bead of sweat abandon its post at the back of Knox’s hairline and begin a long travel down his neck, between his shoulders, and along the path of his spine. I want to lick him everywhere the sweat touches.

Am I drooling? I swipe my fingers over the corner of my mouth. Oh, good, only a little.

What’s going on here, again?

“Mia is my best friend,” I announce to the room, answering Knox’s question for him.

He looks back over my shoulder and frowns at me. When his eyebrow quirks, I realize I zoned out staring at his back for longer than I thought, and Mia has already answered him herself.

Rhys laughs at me silently, his body quaking against mine as he struggles to contain his amusement.

Knox returns to looking at Mia. “I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”

“Making sure my best friend issafe,” Mia says, her voice rasping with exasperation as she throws her hands up in the air high enough that I can see them around Knox’s attempt to block us off from each other.

Percy scoffs openly and walks over to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Knox. “If Belle was so desperate to get away from you that she didn’t take her things with her when she left, I don’t think you’re in any position to be the one deciding whether or not she’s safe.”

Wow, these three have the protective alpha role down to an art.

“Guys, you can stand down.” I pat Rhys’s chest to reassure him as I pull away from his grasp.

Mia showing up here is fucking with my head. I ran away from the bar completely devastated by the betrayal of my best friend being a scent-match for my boyfriend, but my perspective has shifted after two days with my own scent-matches.

Am I thrilled about her spending the rest of her life mated to someone I briefly dated? Not really.

Do I understand now how little choice an omega has once they’ve found a scent-match? A thousand times, yes.

And with my heat imminent, I don’t want to spend another second thinking of any alpha other than the three whom I’ve spent the last few days shacked up with. I don’t have the capacity for a deep, heartfelt conversation with Mia about her budding relationship or my feelings about the matter.

“I’m safe,” I reassure Mia with as much heartfelt sincerity infused in my voice as I can muster. The fastest way to get rid of her is to give her what she wants.

I try to step between Knox and Percy to talk directly to Mia, but Knox puts out his arm to catch me around the middle, stopping me from getting any closer.

Mia scoffs openly. “How am I supposed to believe you’re safe with this big, shirtless oaf manhandling you?”

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